This Sunday: What Does Alec Baldwin Have to Do With 9/11?

A friend who saw a copy of this week’s issue shortly after it arrived in our office remarked that it was a “relief” not to see another 9/11 image. I understood what she meant, but that was not our intention, nor was it a reflection of how I personally feel. In fact, I’ve been surprised by how absorbed I’ve been in the coverage of the 10th anniversary, particularly some of the excellent stories I’ve listened to in the morning on WNYC radio.

The decision not to put a 9/11 picture on the cover of our Sept. 11, 2011 issue was made in collaboration with our colleagues at the newspaper who have produced an extraordinary special section called “The Reckoning,” which we did not wish to compete with. It would’ve been wrong to leave the subject entirely alone, however, so inside the magazine, you’ll find a collection of articles that include Bill Keller’s essay on reconsidering his pro-war response to the 9/11 attacks, Sam Anderson’s account of visiting Ground Zero, a roundtable of the magazine’s foreign-policy experts discussing the decade of war and a selection of 9/11-related photographs that have appeared in the magazine since that awful day.

But the cover belongs to Alec Baldwin. The primary reason for this is that he’s a gifted performer who is among the eight television actors we are celebrating in this issue. It also doesn’t hurt that Alec is so strongly identified as a New Yorker.

Baldwin and the other television greats are featured in a photo portfolio by Hendrik Kerstens, a Dutch photographer known for his stunning portraiture. Our photo editor Kathy Ryan has worked with Kerstens for years and considers him one of the most original photographers working today. In her words:

Hendrik’s portraits refer both to the Dutch masters and the Italian Renaissance. He is known for his stunning portraits of his daughter, Paula, whom he presents in classically formal portraits, but usually with an odd contemporary twist. The headpiece is a plastic shopping bag, a restaurant dinner napkin, a towel or a hoodie sweatshirt. The contrast between the incredibly formal, beautifully lit poses and the unexpected modern elements charges the portraits with an undercurrent of sly wit. Kerstens has a finely honed ability to bring out a sitter’s best side. His work is all about craft and precision.

In addition to the portraits he has done on assignment for the magazine, shown below, he also did a series of portraits of Paula for an exhibition titled “Dutch Seen” produced by FOAM Museum in Amsterdam and shown at the Museum of the City of New York in September 2009 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival in Manhattan. (I curated that exhibition. It featured the work of a group of the top Dutch photographers.)

Here is some of the work that Hendrik has done for us in the past.